Summoning
by ninzzminigoth
Summary: S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers that Victor Von Doom is trying to replicate the Tesseract, and they ask for Loki's help. They are not too thrilled about the prospect of working with him, and he is not happy about working with S.H.I.E.L.D, but he is the only option.


Loki heard the grand doors of his cell room open, the sound heavy and sharp in the large space, and looked up to see Odin, accompanied by two court guards standing ready at his side. Odin walked with purpose, wearing a rather neutral expression on his face, his one eye impossible to read.

"Son. Your presence is requested."

He moved closer to the boundary of the invisible cell and held his hand out towards it. Where his hand touched, blue light appeared, and spread outwards to show the shape of a large dome, which disappeared as quickly as it had materialised. Loki stood from his previous position of sitting cross-legged on the floor in the centre of the dome, and walked forwards slowly as it dissipated, wary of Odin's intention. Loki's hands were still shackled, and he was muzzled still – he had remained so since he and Thor brought the Tesseract back from Midgard. Odin inclined his head to the guard by his left shoulder and said quietly: "Remove his binds. Carefully."

The guard obliged and advanced on Loki, who retreated ever so slightly. All the guard did was produce a key, which he used to unlock both the shackles and the muzzle. The first fell to the floor with a rattle, the second loosened from around Loki's ears, then fell open with a click. The guard lifted it away and picked up the shackles, before falling back to his place behind Odin, who was regarding Loki with a mildly amused air around him. Loki had forgotten what it felt like without the damned muzzle biting down on his mouth. In the beginning, before he learned, each time he tried to complain about the unjust nature of his punishment, or even whimper, the muzzle tightened - often causing intense pain. Another condition of his exile, of course. He brought one of his hands up to his face unconsciously, flexing his jaw and getting used to being able to move it freely once more.

"Leave us," Odin said to his guards. They swept out of the room without a word, cloaks billowing.

"Why did you remove the binds?" Loki asked, his own voice sounding foreign. It was certainly good to hear it again.

"Your presence is requested."

"Where?"

The Asgardians could not want less to do with him. They regarded him no more than one of the vermin crawling in the walls, and treated him as such. The only ones who showed any kind of affection to him after the incident with the Tesseract were Sigyn and Thor, although Sigyn visited him less and less, so he could not think of anyone in Asgard who would have need of him, much less want his company.

"Midgard," Odin said plainly.

"Midgard?" Loki repeated, unable to comprehend what its inhabitants would want, or why they would want him after what he had done to them.

"Yes. Come with me." Odin turned and began to leave the chamber, and Loki followed. They left the hall, and as they did so the Asgardians stared shamelessly. Odin ignored it, and called for Sleipnir, who appeared almost instantly, materialising from wherever it was he resided when not needed. When no other horses appeared, Loki was confused.

"Do you mean me to ride on Sleipnir with you?"

"It is only for crossing the Bifrost. Beyond that you will not need me." Odin held his hand out to help Loki up onto the horse, and he took it. There was ample room on Sleipnir's back while sitting astride him, although it would not seem so otherwise. When both were settled, Sleipnir took off at a run across the bridge.

"The Bifrost is broken; we cannot travel to any of the other realms!" Loki shouted over the air rushing past them. Odin did not answer, and Sleipnir kept galloping, his hooves making muted thuds on the bridge's glassy surface.

Sleipnir slowed to a trot as they came to the edge of the rainbow bridge, where Heimdall stood, ever vigilant. Sleipnir stopped completely and Odin dismounted, which Loki took as a cue to do the same. The two approached Heimdall, who turned to face them, but only looked at the Allfather. Odin looked sidelong at Loki.

"The Bifrost may be broken, but it is not useless. Fragments of its energy remain." Loki quirked his brow in understanding, but he did not quite see how the Bifrost would, or could work in its current state. "The Midgardians wished to speak with you. Good luck... my son."

Before he could retort with an '_I'm not your son!'_, Loki was being thrown through a portal very much like the one the Bifrost used to produce, heading for Midgard. It was a familiar feeling of the vacuum of space rushing past him, being propelled through it. He could see the continents and the edge of its atmosphere, a light blue then fading to white into the void of space around it. Blue began to take over his entire field of vision, the landmass moving closer and closer, then details of the environment began to show themselves, vast swathes of field and city, the lights flickering on the dark land. Next thing he knew, he was crashing through a roof into a large, round room, landing on top of a table, and smashing through it. The lights, however, were not bright. He lay there for a moment, dazed.

He heard the steady _clack, clack, clack_ of feet approaching him.

"I see Mr. Laufeyson has arrived. Right on time," a female voice said. Loki recognised it. He sat up to see that she and a man he immediately identified as Barton, who had co-operated with him before, were there. The woman who had spoken was familiar. He remembered Agent Barton telling him about a Nick Fury, the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D, a Maria Hill, a Dr. Bruce Banner, a Tony Stark, and a Natasha Romanov.

"How do you know my name? You mortals would have no reason to know of it," Loki hissed.

"Your brother told us," the woman replied, pushing off from the counter on which she was leaning. She moved over to where Loki was sitting and extended a hand to help him up. Loki was momentarily surprised, but he refused the assistance. "Oh? And what else did my _brother_ tell you?" he remarked drily as he pulled himself up.

"Not much," she said, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh, I remember you. Romanov." he said, remembering her from before, when he was in the cage.

"Yes, and this man here is Clint Barton... who you already know," she said, hissing the last few words. Barton did not appear to be happy.

"What do you want me for? I am surprised you even trust me enough to summon me here."

"Trusting you is a necessary risk," she replied. "Put simply, we need your help."

"Oh, I see. When I'm a threat, you send me back to Asgard, bound. But when you need my assistance? How ironic."

Barton cut in then: "Loki, the reason we've brought you here is that you're the only one who knows the Tesseract."

"The Tesseract," Loki sighed. "You should really stop playing with things you do not understand."

"No, not the Tesseract, exactly," Natasha said. "We've received reports from headquarters of a scientist, Dr. Victor Von Doom, trying to replicate it."

"The Tesseract cannot be replicated! It is not of any of the nine worlds, no-one can know it, and I am no exception."

"But," Barton interjected, "No-one has been closer to its energy than you – or no one we can get a hold of easily, anyway."

"If I'm not mistaken... you were quite close to it yourself," Loki responded quickly, looking over at Barton pointedly.

"True as that might be, I don't remember anything about it. You were controlling me, and it was controlling you-"

"It was _not _controlling me. I was given a choice, and I made my decision. I dealt with the consequences."

"Pretty damn big consequences," Barton muttered.

"Well," Natasha interrupted. "In any case, you're the only one who can actually give us anything useful. You have a room allocated to you and it will be yours until the issue is resolved." She handed Loki a small datapad that showed him where said room was in relation to where he currently was, and sent him on his way. He left the large circular room, following the instructions issued by the datapad until he reached what showed as his room.

'_This will suffice,' _he thought. The display changed, showing the time instead in bright, clean digits. As he walked in, he heard Natasha's voice come from what he assumed was the datapad. He looked at it to see the screen flashing, displaying an identification, and he sat down on the soft chair by the window.

"We'll see you in the morning," she said. "We'll give you a dossier on Von Doom, and you'll get to meet the crew. Again." Loki considered her words, and wondered if the device worked two ways.

"Thank you," he tried.

"...You're welcome," Natasha replied, sounding surprised at his unexpected show of gratitude.

"Sleep well, Agent Romanov," he purred into the device. "I will see you later."

The screen went back to displaying the time suddenly. He smiled to himself. It would benefit him to manipulate her, he decided. The reasons would reveal themselves later, and he would reap the rewards.


End file.
